CHAPTER VI 



THE TEAK REGION 



On the 28th of March, having seen our forest lodge 

 in a fair way to completion, I left the Puchmurree plateau, 

 and entered on the first of many long journeys of explora- 

 tion among the forests of the Seoni, Chindwara, and 

 Betiil districts. I have already described these as being 

 situated on the great central table-land of this mountain 

 range, from the centre of which juts up the still higher 

 formation called the Mahadeo (or Puchmurree) group. 

 The general elevation of the table-land is about 2000 feet 

 above the sea ; but this general level is broken by numerous 

 minor projections, besides the great one of the Mahadeo 

 range, which generally exhibit the pecuHar flat-topped 

 outline of hills of the trap formation.^ The overflow of 

 basalt has indeed been nearly universal over all this vast 

 region, the great Mahadeo sandstone block, and a few 

 isolated peaks of granite, known at once by their sharp 

 and splintered peaks, being the only notable breaks in the 

 great volcanic ocean. To judge from the great extent 

 of table-land ]jmg at about the elevation of 2000 feet, 

 this would appear to have been the original level of the 

 trap overflow, the higher peaks of that formation, which 

 reach in a few places to 3000 feet, being more probably 

 the result of subsequent upheaval. The plateau has, 

 however, been generally denuded by the larger streams 

 to a depth of about 1000 feet, where they still run over 



^ Many of these isolated hills, being flat-topped and surrounded 

 by precipitous scarps, and frequently furnished with depressions in 

 which rain-water collects, are natural fortresses of an almost impreg- 

 nable strength; and, with the addition of some rude masonry works, 

 were generally occupied for this purpose by the hill Chiefs in former 

 times. 



171 



